Electricians and mechanical contractors are frequently required to install long runs of conduit or pipe through open areas requiring precise installation of support racks and precise installation of the receiving point. For example, electrical conduit and mechanical piping is generally pre-installed or “stubbed” so that they are in place when a building foundation or concrete floor is poured. The electrician then must extend the conduit from that stub through a ceiling which is anywhere from fifteen to fifty feet above the stub, or even greater distances. Aligning the penetration through the ceiling, which is often also the next floor of a multi-story building, requires great precision. In addition, an electricians and mechanical tradesmen must often run electrical conduit or piping in very tight confined spaces which cannot accommodate misalignments. Slight misalignments at each stage can accumulate to cause major installation problems: the stubs must be precisely aligned because they cannot generally be adjusted after concrete is poured; penetrations through ceilings/floors or walls must be precise because they cannot interfere with equipment layouts on the opposite sides; runs must be precisely aligned so as to not interfere with intersecting runs of piping and conduit, etc.
Similarly, long horizontal runs of conduit or pipe must be sighted with great precision. Precise alignment is required to prevent interference with other runs of conduit or piping, whether parallel runs or intersecting runs. Additionally, horizontal piping runs require a precise slope depending on the pipe design and fluid. Drain lines for example, require a minimum slope of ⅛ inch drop per 1 foot of run, and may also be restricted by a maximum slow of ¼ inch drop per foot in order to control flow rates, flushing action, and fluid velocity. Even piping or conduit not requiring precise slopes require precise placement to intersect with branch lines and to align with locations where they are to penetrate through another wall, floor, or connect to installed equipment. Support racks must be constructed prior to installing the piping or conduit and require the same precise alignment as the runs they support.
Traditionally, alignment of long vertical runs required a team of installers and expensive lifting equipment. Several installers working on lifts or scaffolding would be required to measure and locate the upper penetration point, then drop a plum line from that point to determine the proper location for the stub, or to determine the required offset. Lifting equipment is expensive, the process is time consuming, and labor costs are high due to the number of installers required. Worse still, the end product is often misaligned due to the difficulty in coordinating people and taking measurements off of different reference points.
Similarly, traditional methods for aligning long horizontal runs require multiple installers and significant equipment. The support racks often are fabricated on-site using supporting beams suspended from an overhead. The standard material used for the supporting beams is UNISTRUT® or similar modular metal framing systems which are provided in standard dimensioned cross-sections. Each support rack must be sighted and aligned vertically, requiring multiple installers using plum lines and measuring tapes. Again, the end result is often misalignment even when performed by experienced install teams.
Laser alignment tooling and sighting systems have greatly improved the productivity and precision of install teams, but often the inability to easily align the laser to the start point necessitates ad hoc solutions which, in addition to adding labor and time costs, result in precise but ultimately inaccurate measurements. The laser devices themselves are not able to mount directly to a conduit or pipe such that the laser can be centered in the pipe or conduit cross section itself. For support racks, the laser needs to be centered at the midpoint of the support beam, or the top or bottom edge.
Magnetic mounting means have been provided for many laser devices, but generally cannot be used to mount directly to conduit or piping, or a support rack. Additionally, often conduit, piping, and support racks are made from non-magnetic materials, so even laser devices with magnetic mounting systems can't be mounted directly to the structures for sighting. Additionally, even if the laser could be mounted directly to a conduit end, for example, there is no easy way to incorporate an offset into the laser spotter when required. The result is that, even with laser alignment tooling and spotting devices, install teams require extra bodies and extra equipment—and time—to sight conduit and pipe runs.
Thus, there is a need for a positioning system for laser devices that (1) is compatible with most magnetically mounted laser devices; (2) provides the ability to align a magnetic mounted laser spotter for direct centering over a conduit or pipe; (3) provides the ability to align a magnetic mounted laser spotter for direct centering on a supporting beam; (4) is inexpensive to manufacture; (5) is simple to use; (6) is universally adaptable to any standard conduit size or support beam size; (7) reduces the number persons required for an installation; (8) reduces the time required for an installation; (9) reduces the number of man-lifts or scaffolding systems required and the time they are required for an install; (10) provides improved accuracy for sighting installations; (11) provides the ability to easily measure angular offsets or provide templates for fabricating offsets.
A number of devices have provided magnetically mounted laser devices, but lack the simplicity, inexpensiveness, broad interoperability, and accuracy of the present invention. Presently known art attempts to address this problem, but has not completely solved the problem.
Thus, while the foregoing body of art indicates it to be well known to have a laser alignment tooling device, the art described above does not teach or suggest a positioning system which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) compatible with most magnetically mounted laser devices; (2) provides the ability to align a magnetic mounted laser spotter for direct centering over a conduit or pipe; (3) provides the ability to align a magnetic mounted laser spotter for direct centering on a supporting beam; (4) is inexpensive to manufacture; (5) is simple to use; (6) is universally adaptable to any standard conduit size or support beam size; (7) reduces the number persons required for an installation; (8) reduces the time required for an installation; (9) reduces the number of man-lifts or scaffolding systems required and the time they are required for an install; (10) provides improved accuracy for sighting installations; (11) provides the ability to easily measure angular offsets or provide templates for fabricating offsets.